Flyers Preseason Ends How It Started
In the Flyers' preseason opener in London, Ont. against Toronto on Sept. 15, Philly rallied all the way back from a 3-0 deficit only to give up the next goal and lose in regulation, 4-3. In the Flyers' preseason finale in DC against the Washington Capitals last night, Philly rallied all the
way back from a 3-0 deficit only to give up the next goal -- and then two more -- in a regulation loss.
The Flyers spent basically the entire preseason chasing games. In posting a 1-5-1 record, they yielded the first goal in all seven games, fell behind by multiple goals in five of the games, and played with a lead for just 13:29 of 430 minutes of regulation/OT hockey. The one lead they did hold (in the third period of their Sept. 16 split squad home game against the Capitals) was blown in the final minute of regulation, and the team went to lose that match via shootout.
In last night's game, the Flyers dressed pretty much their entire opening night roster with the exception of top line right winger Jakub Voracek (held out for precautionary reasons after his lower back collided with the goal post in Tuesday's 2-1 home loss to the Devils). Nevertheless, the Flyers' porous team defense managed to yield six goals in a chippy and fight-filled game.
Eric Fehr and Alexander Ovechkin (two power play goals) notched a pair of goals each for the Capitals, who also individual goals from bruising rookie winger Tom Wilson and center Mathieu Perrault (three-point night). Michal Neuvirth stopped 32 of 35 shots for the win in goal.
It wasn't entirely a negative night for the Flyers, however. Apart from a coverage miscue by Braydon Coburn that led to Wilson staking the Caps to a 3-0 lead, the second period of last night's game might have been the Flyers' best period of the exhibition season. During that segment of the game, Philly carried most of the play in outshooting Washington by a 15-5 margin.
The Flyers started to put together some good shifts before the Wilson goal and, importantly, they didn't deflate immediately after it was scored. Instead, Philly kept plugging and got consecutive goals by Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell (power play) and Wayne Simmonds to tie the game before the second intermission.
Unfortunately, the opening and final 20 minutes of hockey were not even close to good enough for a win-starved team in a full dress rehearsal for opening night. The lack of discipline Philly displayed, coverage breakdowns by defensemen and forwards alike and frequent inability to generate good back-to-back shifts were far more disturbing than the fact they lost the game.
All of these aforementioned issues are lingering problems from last season that have gone uncorrected.
From the sound of things, Zac Rinaldo will not be suspended for the hit on Mikhail Grabovski that resulted in an elbowing major and game misconduct for Rinaldo. Replays suggested that it was not Rinaldo's elbow that made contact with the Washington forward, who had his head down as Rinaldo finished his check. Working against Rinaldo are his previous rap sheet of OHL, AHL and NHL suspensions and the fact that his skates lifted off the ice as he delivered the hit. Working in his favor are the facts that, well, he didn't actually elbow the opponent and the player did not miss a shift.
The Flyers got a pedestrian goaltending performance last night from Ray Emery (24 saves of 29 shots), whose previous play in the exhibition slate had been one of the bright spots. Last night, he had periodic issues with rebound control and lateral movement. Emery also had a pair of giveaways when handling the puck, one of which led to the game's first goal by Fehr just 1:40 after the opening face off.
I am not too concerned about Emery. Every goalie has off nights and I thought he was generally solid in his previous outings. His goaltender partner, Steve Mason, also played a bit better than his stats would suggest but Emery was the more likely of the two to come up with tough stops that settled the team down a bit in stretches of in-game adversity. It just didn't happen last night.
As I wrote many, many times during Ilya Bryzgalov's tenure as the Flyers starter -- as well as the previous tenures of Sergei Bobrovsky/Brian Boucher, Boucher/Michael Leighton/Emery, etc. -- no goalie is going to look good in the long run if the team allows too many open chances from prime scoring range. Even a team with Vezina-caliber goaltending needs its skaters to be committed to helping defend the house. When a team has average goaltending, that's even more necessary.
Bottom line: If the Flyers do not improve defensively as a team -- and I mean by a significant margin -- Peter Laviolette will not last the season as the head coach, because this club will struggle to contend for a playoff spot in the same exact way it did last year.
Now for a little ray of hope: Accomplishing this is more a matter of getting commitment than changing on-ice personnel.
There have been sporadic stretches of games even in this preseason -- such as most of the second period last night -- where the Flyers got their two-way game going. Late last season, when Laviolette simplified his system by necessity due to a host of injuries on the blueline, the team actually played decent all-around hockey despite icing what was mostly an AHL starting defense. Lastly, if you go back to Bryzgalov's franchise-record shutout streak in March of 2012, a (temporarily) re-emphasized team-wide commitment to defensive support had as much to do with it as undeniably excellent and (again, temporarily) focused play by the goaltender.
Sporadic defensive commitment, however, isn't going to be good enough for this team to build a playoff-worthy record in the regular season. If the Flyers carry over into the regular season the habits that caused them to constantly play from behind during the preseason, they are going to have similarly dismal results and the coach will be gone before the calendar flips to 2014. That's just reality.
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SATURDAY QUICK HITS
* There are rumors this morning that the Flyers may trade defenseman Andrej Meszaros to Colorado for center John Mitchell. If that is true, it would be a good deal for the Flyers on three different fronts. It would fill the Flyers' need for a grinding, third-line forward with size, and who can also pop a few goals. Although Mitchell is yet another natural center, he is versatile and has played wing in his career. It would save money on the cap (Mitchell makes $1.1 million on the cap to Meszaros' $4 million). Lastly, it would help in resolving the logjam of fifth-to-seventh defensemen the Flyers currently still have on the roster before the opening night roster has to be set on Monday. However, because this trade has not yet actually happened -- and may not come to fruition at all -- the Quick Hits below are based on the status quo.
* The Flyers made two roster cuts yesterday, sending Oliver Lauridsen and Michael Raffl to the Phantoms. The demotion of Lauridsen was not a surprise, given the team's numbers crunch on the blueline and Lauridsen's struggles with avoidable penalties as well as ongoing consistency issues with his defensive positioning and footwork. The demotion of Raffl was a bit more surprising, despite his scoreless preseason and decreasing effectiveness after a strong first game. Ultimately, the Flyers elected (wisely in my opinion), that Raffl needed to take the intermediate step of playing in the American Hockey League to better acclimate himself both to the transition of playing the North American game and managing the enormous step up in competition from Allsvenskan to the NHL.
* With Raffl being assigned to the Phantoms, Scott Laughton and Chris VandeVelde are two forwards left standing in the battle for a single open roster spot.
I thought that VandeVelde played well enough early in the preseason to have his AHL-only contract converted into a two-way NHL contract, enabling him to be called up to the big club if needed to fill in for a few games. Not for a moment, however, did I think the former Edmonton Oiler played well enough to make the Flyers opening night roster. VandeVelde played poorly in Thursday's 4-1 loss in New Jersey; so poorly, I thought, that I was almost certain that he'd be announced as a roster cut yesterday. Instead, he played last night, albeit sparingly (nine shifts, 6:00 of ice time).
When the Flyers were ultimately unable to sign Daniel Cleary and elected not to re-sign Simon Gagne, they hoped that an internal candidate among Raffl, Tye McGinn or VandeVelde would step up and grab the third-line left wing spot. Honestly, none of them deserved it. As a result, I think veteran Max Talbot is the team's best option at this point.
In Laughton's case, the 19-year-old had a poor first game of the preseason but I thought the team's 2012 first-round pick had a few standout moments in his other outings. His best game -- which I did not see firsthand apart from highlight clips, because I was covering the split squad game in Philly against Washington and Laughton was in the other group playing in Toronto at the same time -- was his second game.
The Flyers still have to decide if Laughton is better off getting a nine-game trial as a fourth liner or spare forward with the NHL club or returning to the OHL's Oshawa Generals and logging all-situation ice time. Laughton is a natural center, and the organization would prefer if he stays in that spot. If he does play center, however, he lacks a current lineup spot.
The Flyers need another NHL winger of at least third-line caliber, but they are pretty much set for centers. Giroux, Lecavalier, Sean Couturier and Adam Hall as the team's four centers, while wingers Talbot and Read also have some NHL centering experience. Second-line left winger Brayden Schenn, who has yo-yoed between center and wing in his NHL career to date, is a natural center. VandeVelde (if he makes the team) is another natural center.
It would seem to me that asking Laughton to play wing for the first time in his fledgling career might be the only way to get him into the lineup. Is that what's best for the current team and best for continuing to nurture his development? I tend to think not, but it's not my call to make.
* Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren told Tim Panaccio yesterday that he plans to sit down today with tryout defenseman Hal Gill to discuss the veteran's situation in light of the team's roster crunch on defense.
Gill, who has logged 1,102 NHL regular-season games and an additional 102 games in the Stanley Cup playoffs, did not play especially well during the preseason. He was never a real mobile blueliner even in his prime and, as the pacing of play has gotten even faster, he's had to rely solely on guile and his knowledge of how to use his size and body positioning to his advantage.
However, the 38-year-old is a highly respected and well-liked played leaguewide. He keeps himself in good shape and sets a positive example with his work ethic and mind for the game as well as his off-ice class and dignity. In a similar fashion to Mike Knuble or Jody Shelley, Gill can make positive contributions to the club at practice and in the locker room even if he plays sparingly.
The Flyers still have to solve a numbers crunch on the blueline. Andrej Meszaros is still with the team, and would currently be the sixth defenseman barring the aforementioned trade rumor or another deal that changes the roster.
The team has already said it will keep Erik Gustafsson on the opening night roster, rather than exposing him to waivers. On the heels of a strong final 10 games of last year's NHL season and an even better 10-game slate at the IIHF World Championships, Gustafsson entered camp with a starting six job to lose. He did not play well in camp and probably deserves to start the season as the number seven defenseman if Meszaros stays put.
Would the Flyers carry eight defensemen until they can make a trade? If so, the "secondary spare" defenseman spot would be between Gill and Bruno Gervais.
Another option, if Gill is willing, may be for him to sign a minor-league contract with the Phantoms. These deals have NHL out-clauses so, if an opening arises in Philadelphia or another NHL city -- which it probably will because defensemen leaguewide get injured at a frighteningly high rate -- Gill may still be able to prolong his NHL career for one more season.
This was the route that winger Knuble took last season, signing with Grand Rapids in the AHL after failing to win an NHL spot with the Red Wings out of their abbreviated post-lockout training camp. When Scott Hartnell got injured early in the season, the Flyers had a need for a veteran power forward at the NHL level. Knuble signed with Philly.
Gervais would have to be waived to be sent to the AHL but his $825,000 cap hit falls below the threshold in which any of his salary would count against the Flyers' cap figure. I assume he would clear waivers. Additionally, with no recall waivers to worry about anymore, the Flyers could bring him back when needed without worry.
* The Adirondack Phantoms open their brief, two game preseason tonight with a home game against the Albany Devils. The Phantoms have a 4 p.m. road game against Utica tomorrow.
* In tomorrow's blog, I will update various Flyers prospects in Europe, the CHL and the USHL.
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